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BOXING;3 Friends Qualify for U.S. Boxing Team

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They followed one another into the ring tonight, friends for years in Philadelphia gyms, all carrying the same fistic dream, all determined to make it to the Olympics. One after the other, in unprecedented fashion, they did.

The bantamweight Zahir Raheem, the lightweight Terrance Cauthen and the light middleweight David Reid scored assertive victories in the Olympic box-offs. It was the first time, boxing officials said, that three American fighters from one city had qualified for the Summer Games.

Joe Frazier in 1964, Meldrick Taylor in 1984 and Tyrell Biggs, also in 1984, have provided Philadelphia with Olympic champions in the last three decades. The latest qualifiers said they would not be satisfied unless the gold-medal count was doubled in Atlanta.

"We've got three things in Philadelphia, bars, churches and gyms," said the Olympic coach Al Mitchell, who, like Raheem and Reid, is a native of North Philadelphia.

Raheem and Reid both fight out of the ABC gym in North Philadelphia. They are roommates at these box-offs, which follow the Olympic trials of two weeks ago. As winners of the trials, Raheem, Reid and Cauthen had to win only once to qualify for the Olympic team. And there was no question once their fights began that they would prevail.

Raheem patiently stalked the retreating Steven Carter of Norfolk, Va., absorbing only one punch in the final two rounds and winning comfortably by the margin of 16-4. Cauthen outpointed Jermaine Fields of Washington, 11-6, and Reid used his hammering right hand to pummel Darnell Wilson of Lafayette, Ind., 20-5.

Both Raheem, 19, and Reid, 22, were street kids, who, as Raheem said, "were blessed to turn those negative emotions to positive skills in the gym."

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Raheem's father, Eric Roach, said that he fought in gangs as a youth and that his son became involved in unsavory activities like "banging people in the head with bottles, fighting and gunplay." The boy carried a gun when he was 9 "to protect himself," Roach said, and there was strong temptation to descend into a life of drugs.

"We prayed a lot," Roach said. "It's a blessing that he's never been in police trouble."

Reid began essentially living with Mitchell from when he was 10, the coach said, and the two spent countless hours watching boxing films of Sugar Ray Robinson and dreaming of the Olympics. "I got into a fight and got suspended from school," Reid said. "I told my mom, and she said: 'Boy, you shouldn't be fighting outside. Take that fighting into the gym.' "

Cauthen, 19, grew up 40 miles north, in Trenton, but he has fought out of Frazier's gym in Philadelphia for nine years. He commuted by train day after day, and he has worked numerous jobs to support two children, a stepson, Jakir, 5, and a daughter, Tainije, 2. He recently moved to Philadelphia, where he works in a construction job from Monday through Friday and then heads for Frazier's gym.

"It's all I've been dreaming about for 19 1/2 years," Cauthen said. "It's like I'm on Mars. I'm so thrilled."

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Six weight classes were contested on Thursday and six more are scheduled for Friday. Other fighters making the Olympic team on Thursday night were the middleweight RHOSHIL WELLS of Riverdale, Ga., who defeated RONALD SIMS of the Langley, Va., Air Force Base, 18-14, and the heavyweight NATE JONES of Chicago, who defeated DAVARRYL WILLIAMSON of Washington, 19-10. In the light flyweight division, the challenger ALBERT GUARDADO of Topeka, Kan., earned a rematch on Saturday by defeating the Olympic trials winner, JAUQUIN GALLARDO of San Leandro, Calif., 15-11.

A version of this article appears in print on April 19, 1996, on Page B00016 of the National edition with the headline: BOXING;3 Friends Qualify for U.S. Boxing Team. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe